CBS fantasy baseball: Hacking the draft room by comparing FantasyPros ADP with CBS’ pre-draft rankings (2024)

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This article is meant to help you find out which players are being drafted higher or lower on CBS compared to all other fantasy league services. By knowing this, you can get a heads up on which players to jump on early or wait an extra round on.

(If you are an ESPN drafter, you can see the article on exploiting ESPN’s rankings/ADP here, and the Yahoo! drafters can check out their ADP exploit breakdown here.)

Understanding ADP On Big Draft Sites

These big fantasy league services get their Average Draft Position data from the tens of thousands of leagues drafting on their site. They call that “data mining,” and it has been happening online for about 20 years. It offers you up information, then when you make your choices off that information, those choices affect the data for the next user.

With that knowledge, you can see how perpetual the ADP on one site might be, as the drafters continue drafting on it, cementing those ADP numbers even further.

What’s interesting is that, initially, most of these sites get their ADP filled by rankings from their writers. Then as readers use those rankings in the draft room, it creates the ADP for that site.

It stands to reason, then, that the ADP on CBS is going to be different than the ADP on ESPN or Yahoo! If you can figure out which players are valued higher on one site compared to the other sites, then you have discovered an overvalued player, at least by the rest of the world’s perspective. However, if you discover some players going lower on CBS than on other sites, then you, my friend, have just discovered an undervalued player.

This means that if you want the overvalued player, you are going to have to draft him higher than he’s getting drafted elsewhere. And if you want the undervalued player — which is really what we’re all hunting for, after all — then you can wait a little bit on this site compared to the other sites.

Finding Values Comparing CBS ADP vs. All Other ADP

If we compare CBS Sports’ ADP with the overall ADP on FantasyPros.com, you will know which players you’ll have to draft earlier if you want them, and which players you can wait on. In this article, we’re going to look specifically at CBS. Earlier this week, I did ADP hacking pieces on Yahoo! and CBS Sports.

For this section, “Average ADP” is the consensus ADP of the league services used on FantasyPros, which include CBS, Yahoo!, RTS, NFBC and Fantrax, and ESPN.

Catchers Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Willson Contreras, Chicago Cubs – CBS 105, Average ADP 116.8
• Gary Sánchez, N.Y. Yankees – CBS 140, Average ADP 152.8
• Mitch Garver, Minnesota – CBS 207, Average ADP 215.2

Catchers Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia – CBS 55, Average ADP 46.4
• Salvador Pérez, Kansas City – CBS 119, Average ADP 95.6
• Christian Vázquez, Boston – CBS 209, Average ADP 166

First Basem*n Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Matt Olson, Oakland – CBS 68, Average ADP 81.2
• Josh Bell, Washington – CBS 117, Average ADP 134.4
• Trey Mancini, Baltimore – CBS 137, Average ADP 156.4

First Basem*n Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Max Muncy, L.A. Dodgers – CBS 103, Average ADP 92.8
• Yasmani Grandal, Chicago White Sox – CBS 142, Average ADP 127.8
• Travis d’Arnaud, Atlanta – CBS 174, Average ADP 144.8

Second Basem*n Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Jose Altuve, Houston – CBS 59, Average ADP 91.6
• Ketel Marte, Arizona – CBS 69, Average ADP 77.8
• Nick Madrigal, Chicago White Sox – CBS 169, Average ADP 188

Second Basem*n Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Jeff McNeil, N.Y. Mets – CBS 109, Average ADP 99.8
• Tommy Edman, St. Louis – CBS 168, Average ADP 140
• Austin Nola, San Diego – CBS 221, Average ADP 181

Third Basem*n Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Alex Bregman, Houston – CBS 25, Average ADP 37.4
• Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh – CBS 132, Average ADP 141
• Miguel Sanó, Minnesota – CBS 160, Average ADP 180

Third Basem*n Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Jeff McNeil, N.Y. Mets – CBS 108, Average ADP 99.6
• Tommy Edman, St. Louis – CBS 164, Average ADP 141
• Andrés Giménez, Cleveland – CBS 213, Average ADP 193

Shortstops Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Corey Seager, L.A. Dodgers – CBS 23, Average ADP 35.2
• Alex Bregman, Houston – CBS 25, Average ADP 37.4
• Carlos Correa, Houston – CBS 95, Average ADP 120

Shortstops Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Javier Báez, Chicago Cubs – CBS 90, Average ADP 79.4
• Tommy Edman, St. Louis – CBS 164, Average ADP 141
• Didi Gregorius, Philadelphia – CBS 182, Average ADP 161

Outfielders Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Ketel Marte, Arizona – CBS 67, Average ADP 77
• Yordan Alvarez, Houston – CBS 60, Average ADP 81
• Giancarlo Stanton, N.Y. Yankees – CBS 89, Average ADP 112
• Joey Gallo, Texas – CBS 118, Average ADP 134
• Kyle Lewis, Seattle – CBS 122, Average ADP 138
• Jorge Soler, Kansas City – CBS 133, Average ADP 145
• Trey Mancini, Baltimore – CBS 137, Average ADP 155

Outfielders Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay – CBS 77, Average AP 69
• Teoscar Hernandez, Toronto – CBS 99, Average ADP 80.6
• Tommy Pham, San Diego – CBS 143, Average ADP 130
• Mike Yastrzemski, San Francisco – CBS 144, Average ADP 116
• Tommy Edman, St. Louis – CBS 164, Average ADP 141
• Franmil Reyes, Cleveland – CBS 169, Average ADP 151
• Ryan Mountcastle, Baltimore – CBS 176, Average ADP 156

Starting Pitchers Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Zack Greinke, Houston – CBS 78, Average ADP 97.8
• Dinelson Lamet, San Diego – CBS 82, Average ADP 98.6
• Chris Paddack, San Diego – CBS 87, Average ADP 104
• Patrick Corbin, Washington – CBS 99, Average ADP 126
• Mike Soroka, Atlanta – CBS 155, Average ADP 168
• Shohei Ohtani, L.A. Angels – CBS 136, Average ADP 177
• Triston McKenzie, Cleveland – CBS 167, Average ADP -180

Starting Pitchers Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Gerritt Cole, N.Y. Yankees – CBS 10, Average ADP 6.6
• Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee – CBS 48, Average ADP 39
• Dylan Bundy, L.A. Angels – CBS 120, Average ADP 110
• Julio Urías, L.A. Dodgers – CBS 133, Average ADP 120
• Marco Gonzalez, Seattle – CBS 181, Average ADP 167
• Chris Bassitt, Oakland – CBS 228, Average ADP 177
• German Marquez, Colorado – CBS 199, Average ADP 179

Relief Pitchers Going Higher on CBS (You’ll have to reach if you want them)

• Kirby Yates, Toronto – CBS 113, Average ADP 131
• Amir Garrett, Cincinnati –CBS 169, Average ADP 257
• Jordan Hicks, St. Louis – CBS 185, Average ADP 210
• Archie Bradley, Philadelphia – CBS 214, Average ADP 256

Relief Pitchers Going Lower on CBS (You can wait a little)

• Raisel Iglesias, L.A. Angels – CBS 115, Average ADP 95.8
• Nick Anderson, Tampa Bay – CBS 165 Average ADP 151
• Richard Rodriguez, Pittsburgh – CBS 226, Average ADP 205
• Taylor Rogers, Minnesota – CBS 229, Average ADP 185

Remember that some websites value players a little differently based on more than just their rankings. This could include things like position eligibility rules, default scoring systems and default lineup settings. Even so, these players are drafted at different values than where they are being drafted in most other services.

Which of these players are you planning to buy or fade based on the differences in CBS rankings/ADP compared to other sites? Are there some over– or undervalued players you’ve spotted among the Average Draft Position rankings on FantasyPros?

(Top photo: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports)